Firm Linked to Cheney Gets Contract for Cuba Jail Cells

A subsidiary of a company once run by Vice President Dick Cheney has won a $9.7-million contract to build more cells for terrorist suspects at a naval base in Cuba, the Navy announced Friday.

The 204 cells will expand by one-third the high-security prison at Guantanamo Bay. The site is nearly full, with 564 suspected Al Qaeda and Taliban prisoners captured during the war on terrorism.

Brown & Root Services, a subsidiary of the Halliburton Co., will build the cells and is expected to finish them by the end of October. Cheney was chairman and chief executive of the Houston-based company from 1995 to 2000.

The Guantanamo prison--as well as the U.S. military’s holding of prisoners without charging them or giving them access to lawyers--has drawn criticism from civil and human rights groups. The Bush administration maintains that the Guantanamo Bay detainees are illegal fighters and therefore are not eligible to be treated as prisoners of war under international conventions.

The new cells, like the others at the prison known as Camp Delta, will be made of steel mesh and measure 6 feet, 8 inches wide by 8 feet long. Each will contain a bed, sink and toilet.